I guess as a Wild fan I really don't care for these moves.

Why would the Wild trade Kaprizov for a worse prospect?

This guy has made multiple versions of the same idea of paying a 2nd round pick to unload Rask and then ending up with more than Rask's cap hit in cap space. Given how easily he'll trade a Wild 2nd round pick for no real gain, my assumption is this is Fletcher's account.

How much for Koivu?

Depends on who is asking, but a 1st would work.

He's on pace for 8 goals over a full season, not sure that's worth a 1st.

If your objective is to add scoring, Koivu isn't your man. If your objective is to get a shut-down center that is among the best in the league at defending against top lines and winning face offs, Koivu is your man. He's basically a poor-man's Bergeron minus the scoring. A 1st might be ripe right now, but at the deadline with multiple playoff teams looking to deal a late 1st is in the ballpark of what he'd cost. I'm not sure he'd waive his NMC, though.

I noticed Boudreau isn't using him as his shutdown C this year though, I wonder if he's still up to it.

That is a good point and he's not been as good on the faceoffs, since the rule changes. But, he's still strong defensively, can stop the opponent's second line, and is great on the PK.

The hard part on the Wild is we don't have a second line scoring center, so it ends up being Koivu. Ek has no offense, so he's the third line guy. On a better team, Koivu would be a solid third center.

The kids need to learn too. Plus the JEE line has a RHS and LHS that can take FOs. The new pick your dot FO rules favor putting that line out there.

Remember, Koivu had a major injury and surgery last season. He didn't get to do much off-season work because of that. It's not a bad thing to limit his minutes a little bit at this point in his career.